Underscoring why Fox News is an "echo chamber" for the American Islamophobia cottage industry and the place where you can bash Islam with impunity is Fox's Megyn Kelly. Her record is stellar: She validated parents who opposed a textbook because of supposed pro-Islam bias; did not refute the lie , by anti-Islam David Horowitz, that Huma Abedin is connected to Islamic terror; supported the man who made an anti-Mohammed video which sparked protest in the Islamic world; and promoted an anti-Islam movie made by the paranoid Steve Emerson. Kelly's newest bit of Muslim bashing involves a movie, with ties to anti-Islamic interests, about Muslim violence towards women. CAIR refused her invitation to appear on her show and she's now attacking them for allegedly encouraging an alleged "spokesperson" to do a "hit piece" on Fox News. Obviously Fox News can give it, but not take it and Megyn Kelly says it's on like Donkey Kong!

Monday night, she immediately set the Fox "controversy" in a strident tone: "Growing controversy over a film exposing the shocking violence against Islamic women, attempts to silence that film, and now attempts to silence us from telling you about it." She reported that the film, "Honor Diaries," was produced by a diverse group of women who are interested in "promoting women's rights especially in countries where women are subjected to honor violence." She played video of the film in which Muslim women spoke of their frustration over having to stay in violent marriages because of "honor" which is, according to one speaker, "institutionalized misogyny." Her voice intense, she reported that "critics have attacked the film." (Oh, like how Noah was attacked on Fox News?)

She asserted that CAIR is trying to stop film screenings on college campuses and noted the U. of Michigan, Dearborn "postponed its screening" and other venues followed suit. Fact Check - Kelly didn't say that this was done because faculty were concerned about the "shallow" presentation of the film's material - not by CAIR which merely refused to participate in a panel discussion about the film. She claimed, without providing any documentation, that the critics were "celebrating those victories" on their websites. She reminded viewers that CAIR wanted Juan Williams to be "punished" for his NPR comments about Muslims. (Like how Megyn Kelly and other Fox talkers wanted Martin Bashir punished for his comments about Sarah Palin?)

Kelly was in full anger mode as she explained that CAIR refused to appear on Fox but directed her to a blogger who "rather than defend his criticism of film did a hit piece" (Oh, the irony) "lamenting that Jews produced this film" and "suggesting that Fox News was intent in ginning up controversy." (OH, THE IRONY!) She made the baseless claim that "clearly CAIR's spokesperson wanted Fox News to back off of its coverage." She read an e-mail, from CAIR, in which they condemn Islamic practices which hurt women but note that those connected with the film have a "hate filled" agenda. She wanted to know why "CAIR and its supporters are so afraid of this film and why are they trying to shut down free speech." The chyron: "Fox Attacked After Asking Critics For Their Take On Controversial Documentary."

The rest of the segment was a discussion with Brooke Goldstein, an anti-Islamic attorney who, when last on Kelly's show, claimed that the President is ignoring the Muslim "war on Christians" and Dr. Qanta Ahmed, a pro-Israel Muslim. Predictably, Goldstein bashed CAIR by claiming that it is a Hamas front group and is "trying to suppress open dialogue" about Muslim women. Ahmed accused them of "trying to silence the vulnerable" and claimed that most violence towards women occurs in Muslim societies. Kelly accused the "aggressive and violent" critics of her past anti-Muslim pieces of wanting to cover up the problem. Goldstein continued to bash CAIR which, she asserted, is ignoring human rights violations towards Muslim women. Kelly claimed that CAIR is "trying to shut this down." She added that, contrary to Muslim women who say that this is domestic violence, not related to Islam, that "this is more than just domestic violence." Dr. Ahmed agreed that it was related to Islamic culture.

Kelly is attacking Richard Silverstein who is not an CAIR spokesperson. He writes for the Guardian and "Tikun Olam, a blog dedicated to resolution of the Israeli-Arab conflict." He is critical of the film because it is connected to the anti-Islamic Clarion Project which was responsible for the anti-Islamic movie, "Obsession," which was promoted on Fox. One of the women in the film is close to Fox's favorite anti-Muslim Muslim, Dr. Zuhdi Jasser. Silverstein details other aspects of the film which suggest an agenda. And as far Kelly's comment about Silverstein "lamenting" about Jews - this is what he wrote: "One has to ask why a film about the purported abuse of Muslim women was produced by Jews, and ones with a distinct ideological agenda at that." Hardly a "lament." His "hit piece," written after Silverstein found out that Kelly's staff had contacted CAIR, merely speculated that Kelly was going to do the hit piece and, voila, she did!

So who is really "ginning up controversy and doing a "hit piece?"

And BTW, how do you think Kelly would react if an atheist group did a film which ascribed clergy pedophilia to the culture of the Catholic Church and Catholic teachings!

“And BTW, how do you think Kelly would react if an atheist group did a film which ascribed clergy pedophilia to the culture of the Catholic Church and Catholic teachings!”

Or a Muslim group who did a film which showed the despicable treatment accorded to a little girl in Israel who was spit on by Orthodox Jewish men for the crime of walking down a street in an Orthodox Jewish neighborhood on Saturday? Or in which is shown a New York city publicly funded bus company (owned and operated by Orthodox Jews) which forces women to sit in the back, separately from the men?

Yeah. There’s about as much difference between the way that Orthodox Jews treat their women and the way fundamentalist Muslims and Christians treat their women as there is a difference between FoxNoise and the Republicon Party.